My first line of attack was to send you a PM, Jim, that I really hope you are able to read, though I know you don't love PMs and don't check them very often...

My second line of attack was to again email the Cancellarius. However, I received a bounce-back, so I think that email is down!

My third line of attack is to post publicly on the forums. So here I am! I guess my reasons for posting here are twofold: I'm hoping to draw your (Jim's) attention to your PMs, but I also just want to let you know that the Cancellarius email is down in case you were unaware of a technical issue. Feel free to delete this topic as I don't really have anything to discuss

Unfortunately Luce, that email has been down for well nigh a decade and, if personal experience is any guide, no other lines of attack really prove fruitful here. If you're really intent on contacting the A.'.A.'., I had luck with cancellarius@onestarinsight.org, also part of the Soror Estai lineage, who responded within a few days.

I've been interested in being received into the A.'.A.'. for years now... I've made contact with both Shoemaker's and Gunther's lineages in the past, and while I feel the former is a better option (for me, anyway) than the latter, I nevertheless feel this inexplicable drawing toward the A.'.A.'. that Jim leads.

Of course, if Jim's lineage is defunct and/or not receiving any new students, then my intuition must be off and I best re-calibrate.

Nevertheless, I'm hoping for confirmation that Jim's A.'.A.'. is defunct/inactive (at least where new students are concerned). Then at least I'd know I'm barking up the wrong tree. Jim (or anyone else in the know about this particular A.'.A.'.), can you confirm (or deny)?

I figured I'd give it a bit to see if anyone else wanted to jump in but, since things seem pretty silent around here, this is what I can tell you, as "someone in the know".

This lineage is not "defunct". I can confirm at least one new Probationer within the past two years (there may be more, but I'm only personally aware of the one).

That individual (K, for convenience) was in a similar situation to yourself and myself -- feeling an inexplicable drawing toward this particular lineage. K reached out via email and snail mail a few times with no response and ultimately, living in Los Angeles, ended up going to one of the Temple of Thelema public classes to talk with someone in person. At that class, K was told that the College of Thelema was, for all intents and purposes, defunct, and that Temple of Thelema was the necessary "on-ramp" for the A.'.A.'..

It was about two years into K's Temple of Thelema experience that K told me this history and further told me that s/he probably had at least another 2-3 years (or more) to go before being qualified to become a Probationer (this was about two and a half years ago). That projected timeline pretty much broke my own inexplicable drawing to this lineage and it was around that time that I wrote to the email address I gave previously and received an almost immediate reply to begin the traditional 3 month Student Grade.

I've since learned that my experience motivated K to pull some strings, push some levers -- do some Magick, I suppose -- and get admitted as a Probationer much sooner than typical, but still it was at least a two and a half year process.

Wow, what a huge letdown! I'm Canadian, so ToT is simply not an option for me (wouldn't be able to stay in the country except for 6 months out of every year, and couldn't be working at all while in the US). And if ToT is the only on-ramp to this A.'.A.'., then I'm screwed.

But what you say definitely matches up to the email situation... That email address is still down, so I guess it's down for good.

Although I can't imagine how hard it is to progress if it's that hard to become a student! I mean, even if I became a Probationer by some miracle, I can't imagine there are many Neophytes, or many Zelators, etc. all the way up! Moreover, if the only on-ramp is ToT, it stands to reason that the vast majority of members would be in the LA area! *sigh*.

Would you mind if I PMed you to discuss more about your experiences with Shoemaker's lineage? Or are you really hush-hush about everything?

It's not that I'm hush hush -- one of the clauses of the Tasks of the Order, from Probationer through Dominis Liminis is, after all: "He shall everywhere proclaim openly his connection with the A.'. A.'. and speak of It and Its principles (even so little as he understandeth) for that mystery is the enemy of Truth." -- just that I'd have very little to say.

Once you're accepted as a Probationer, from that point forward you have a one-on-one relationship with one person, your Neophyte. All the work is your own, s/he acts mainly as your sounding board, sparring partner, adviser, referee, and whatever else grows out of your personal dynamic. Assuming your Neophyte hasn't decided to take things into hir own hands and change anything about the system (Jim's book is by far the best roadmap that exists to verify this), there shouldn't be anything to discriminate one "lineage" from another aside from how available they currently are to taking on Probationers.

Everything of import to the system has been published or is readily available on the internet (with the partial exception of the rites of initiation which are necessarily secret so that important moments of surprise exist to catalyze change in those who actually go through them). All other benefit from formally initiating into it comes from the personal relationship built with your superior and how you use that relationship to further yourself in the Great Work... and then pass on the same service to your own Probationers.